Category Archives: Living Lightly

What is “BPI Certified”?

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Something I’m seeing on some so-called “green alternatives” products is a little seal with the words “BPI Certified”. I’d never heard of it before so I decided to find out what BPI is and why I should care if something is certified by them. It looks like this:

BPI Compostable Logo

First thing I discovered is that if you go looking for “BPI Certified” in google, you’re going to come up with a bunch of construction hits. Apparently people can become “BPI Certified” in the construction industry (I didn’t dig deep enough to find out what it actually certifies because it’s not what I’m researching today).

Well, that’s not it. So I tried other keywords and eventually found my way to the Biodegradable Products Institute. Their logo matches the seal I was seeing so this must be what I’m looking for. BPI is, in plain English, a group of manufacturers, academics and government groups who promote biodegradable materials. Continue reading →

Living Lightly

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I am part of consumerist western culture.

Oh, I’m not blindly so. I eat local where possible (very hard to do during a Wisconsin winter) to cut down on pollution from transporting food and to help local farmers. I avoid the worst of the individually pre-packaged over-processed foods to cut down on packaging that just goes in the landfill (and because that crap is really bad for you and doesn’t taste very good anyway!). I walk around turning out the lights when they’re not needed. I recycle what the local government will pick up.

But I’m part of it nonetheless. I’m a little too sedentary (with the decline in health that comes with that), a little too quick to jump to the easy route, and my footprint on the planet is a few sizes too large.

In other words, I’m not too far ahead of the average American when it comes to my negative impact on the world. Continue reading →